Chapter 3 Night Sacrifice 2: The Nameless Village

Chapter 3 Night Sacrifice 2: The Nameless Village

The widow looked coldly at Wu Wangwang, who was huddled on the ground, and said, "A woman who can't cook or light a fire will be beaten to death when she marries into her husband's family."

Wu Wangwang also felt very innocent. Starting a fire is different from playing with fire. Sometimes the more you want to start a fire, the less likely it is to start. Just as she was about to defend herself, she suddenly realized that the widow's words were not a belittling or blaming statement, but a rule.

One of the rules a girl who is about to marry into the Lin family must follow is that she must know how to cook and start a fire when she goes to her husband's house. In the game, players who do not follow the rules will not be able to leave the instance alive.

Thinking of this possibility, Wu Wangwang looked down at the smoke-filled stove again and replied, "I understand. I'll start the fire now."

But Wu Wangwang had never burned firewood before and didn't know how to burn the not-so-dry firewood with the little bit of combustible straw. The widow didn't offer any guidance; after explaining the rules, she went to clean up the dishes in the kitchen, looking like an NPC with only a set routine.

While the widow turned away, Wu Wangwang looked at the nearly burnt straw in the stove, blew on it, and the flames immediately blazed as if gasoline had been poured on them. Soon the firewood was lit, and the smoke in the kitchen gradually disappeared after it started burning. The sound of the water in the pot boiling dry could be heard.

The widow didn't react much to the pot suddenly burning; she simply started cooking, seemingly unconcerned about the methods used by the other party, as long as the pot was burning.

Dinner was just ordinary stir-fried wild vegetables and sweet potato rice. Wu Wangwang had never eaten rice before and couldn't tell the difference between good and bad food. After all, normally she should have been eating those black dumplings that she had kneaded herself.

After dinner, it was completely dark. The widow cleaned up the dishes and asked Wu Wangwang to continue boiling water to wash the dishes. The remaining water would be used for their bathing. During this time, the widow announced a few more rules.

First, after the meal, the wife must clean up the dishes for the whole family and boil water for bathing. The order in which the bath water is used should follow the order of seniority, except for the wife, who is the last person to use the water and cannot secretly save any.

Second, the wife cannot go out after dark, so all the necessary errands must be completed before dawn.

Third, the daughter-in-law is the last person in the family to rest, but she has to get up the earliest the next day to prepare breakfast, lunch and hot water for the whole family.

There were three rules in total. For each rule the widow mentioned, she would demonstrate it herself, thus showing Wu Wangwang what a qualified daughter-in-law should be like, in preparation for the wedding in half a month.

Wu Wangwang did write it down, but she didn't quite understand why it seemed like she was doing everything. However, NPCs generally wouldn't say anything unrelated to the rules, so she couldn't ask them. Sometimes, the storyline of the dungeon had nothing to do with the players or NPCs; she just had to follow along.

Unless there are fake rules that players need to figure out themselves.

Previously, Wu Wangwang had never been overly involved in the dungeon's storyline. In her view, this dungeon was just a very lively ritual, with some people coming to worship her and beg for their lives, and others going to worship other ghosts and gods and beg for their departure.

Once outside the temple, it became clear that the players had a tough time as well. Finding the ending and escaping the dungeon within the limited time and freedom of the event was indeed not easy.

As expected, the widow did not go out that night. After taking a bath, she simply tidied up her belongings and took Wu Wangwang back to the room with only one bed to sleep.

Before going to bed, the widow would nervously check all the doors and windows in the house to make sure that all possible entry points were locked.

Wu Wangwang is still the daughter of the family, so she can sit on the bed and watch the widow do these things. But after she gets married, these things will become her rules, which she must do and abide by, otherwise she will be punished by being beaten to death by her husband's family.

After the widow got into bed, Wu Wangwang quietly asked, "Mom, now that I'm in my new home, can I chat with Brother Dalin tonight?"

The room was pitch black because the widow had turned off the light before getting into bed. She paused for a moment before answering, "No, it would disturb my parents-in-law. It's very impolite and against the rules."

“Alright.” Wu Wangwang lay down, knowing she wouldn’t get any more information about Dalin. Since she couldn’t speak at her husband’s house, as the widow now the daughter-in-law of this family, even though she no longer had her parents-in-law and husband, she still had to abide by the rule of not speaking at night.

If her daughter hadn't asked, she probably would have silently slept until the early hours of the morning.

After midnight, the dungeon officially begins. Players protected by the Ghost Mother will have their lives spared by the NPCs even if they break the rules, as promised by the Ghost Mother. However, ordinary players are not so lucky and must wait for a gap in the rules before they can move freely.

Wu Wangwang didn't know what rules others had to follow, but she had way too many rules.

Before dawn, the widow got up on her own and woke up Wu Wangwang, telling her that it was 4:30 a.m. For the next two weeks, the widow would wake her up at this time so that she would get used to waking up at this time. Even if there was no alarm clock, she had to get up. She could get up earlier, but not later than 4:30 a.m.

Wu Wangwang herself doesn't need to sleep, but since the rules require it, she complies.

Next, the widow demonstrated what a daughter-in-law should do, spending about two hours preparing everything needed for the day, including tools and fertilizer for going to the fields, all of which she prepared in the early morning hours.

She told Wu Wangwang that she was the only one in the family who used these things, so she prepared and used them herself. However, when Wu Wangwang went to Dalin's house, the amount she had to prepare was calculated based on the number of people in the family. For example, she had to include Dalin's parents, brothers, and sisters, because she was Dalin's first daughter-in-law.

The widow probably felt that it was too tiring for her to bear the burden of the whole family's affairs alone. After explaining the rules that had to be followed, she suddenly added, "It would be good if other daughters-in-law came to help you in the future, so you could do less."

This statement also reveals another piece of information: a family may have more than one daughter-in-law, and other women may marry into the Lin family. However, this rule is flexible. It is not certain that a second daughter-in-law will appear, but it is also possible to have an extra daughter-in-law in the family through various means.

At this time, Wu Wangwang was unaware that among humans, when the first wife in a family arranges for a second wife, it is called "arranging a marriage." Often, the more the eldest sister-in-law's family is exploited, the more the eldest sister-in-law likes to act as a matchmaker for her family, so that she is not the only one suffering.

Wu Wangwang simply memorized the rules; she didn't really care how to use them, because the core of this instance wasn't how she should be a wife.

The reason the NPCs explain so many rules at the beginning is simply because if you don't follow the rules, you will die and the player will not have a chance to complete the game.

After the widow finished teaching, she took her food and farm tools to the fields, leaving Wu Wangwang to play at home by herself. She didn't have to eat, but she was told to come back and cook before dark.

This means that the time from morning to afternoon when cooking is the wife's free time, and Wu Wangwang can move around freely. It can be considered a humane adjustment in the game. If the game were to exploit players like a wife in an ordinary family, players would never have the opportunity to leave the house.

Wu Wangwang was still thinking about Dalin. After seeing the widow out, he locked the door and left shortly afterward, wanting to find out if this so-called Dalin actually existed.

In fact, Wu Wangwang wanted to ask other players about their rules and progress, but for some reason, they were all scattered on the edge of the village, and it was too difficult to find each other by tacit understanding. Moreover, each person had their own mission, and they might not be able to get together during their free time.

The widow and her daughter lived at the deserted end of the village to avoid the villagers' slander, rumors, and strange looks. Last night, Wu Wangwang didn't see any signs of life. Now, as he walked back into the village, he found that it seemed that every household was just as the widow had described.

The wife gets up early to prepare everything for the family, and the smoke from the chimney rises. If you don't look at the heavy burden of housework she bears, you can feel the peaceful and idyllic atmosphere of everyday life. But in reality, this "peace and quiet" is achieved by exploiting the wife in the family.

Since no one went out, only a few diligent middle-aged men went out to work with lunchboxes prepared by their wives. Everyone else was still asleep. It wasn't quite light yet, so the wives weren't supposed to go out. As a result, only Wu Wangwang, a single woman, was wandering around on the road.

As they passed an oxcart, the man on it called out to Wu Wangwang and teased, "Oh, so the young maiden is off to find her young husband again?"

Wu Wangwang was stunned for a moment before she realized that the "young maiden" the other person was referring to was herself, and the "young husband" was Dalin.

It would be impolite not to answer someone's question. Although Wu Wangwang didn't like the other person's tone and expression, she stopped for Da Lin's information and replied, "Yes, is Da Lin home now?"

The man glanced at Wu Wangwang's young and beautiful face and energetic body with an ambiguous and lewd look, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth: "He broke his leg a while ago, where can he go? But I heard from his father that he seems to have to go to the city hospital today. If you go today, you can still see him before the wedding."

Wu Wangwang didn't know the rules about the wedding. The widow seemed to have a separate task every day, and the rules were explained little by little. Wu Wangwang didn't know if going to meet her now would be considered a violation of the rules, but she was really curious about the existence of Dalin, this key figure, so she wanted to ask how to get there.

"Oh, is that so? How can I get there faster now? I won't be able to see them if they leave later," Wu Wangwang asked somewhat embarrassedly.

The man replied with an air of "I knew women couldn't resist," "Just follow this alley, turn right after three intersections and you'll reach the back door of Da Lin's house. Then you can go around to the front door."

Wu Wangwang's eyes lit up. She finally knew the location of the Dalin family. After thanking the lewd man, she hurried over. She hoped that the man wouldn't lie to her, because those who lied to the Ghost Mother would be eaten.

There was no one walking in the alley, probably because the people living there were all elderly. They got up early but didn't go out. Wu Wangwang observed her surroundings, hoping to find other players, but to her disappointment, she didn't see a single player until she reached the place the man had mentioned.

This further illustrates that after players were scattered on the edge of the village, they were all confined to their homes due to their respective identity rules, and their free time was limited.

The back door of the Dalin family's house was tightly closed, and the lock on it was very old, probably because no one had opened it for a long time. Otherwise, a place where people live wouldn't have such an old lock.

So Wu Wangwang went around the wall to the front of the yard, and before turning out, she saw the tractor parked in front of Dalin's house.

Several men were exchanging pleasantries at the door, their conversation revolving around how Dalin had broken his leg out of nowhere, and whether the marriage was unlucky.

The middle-aged man standing by the door quickly spat a few times: "Pah, pah, pah, don't talk nonsense. This marriage was decided by everyone, and it's the most auspicious one. Breaking his leg is because Dalin can't handle the good fortune. He'll be fine after the wedding."

One of the men, puffing on his empty cigarette, said, "That's true, but look at Dalin's leg. It won't heal in a day or two. He's getting married in half a month. What are we going to do?"

When the wedding was just over fourteen days away, the men became worried, as if something difficult had happened because of Dalin's broken leg.

The middle-aged man by the door straightened up, sighed, and said, "Well, let's just wait and see. The doctor in town said that if Dalin's leg wants to heal faster, he needs to go to the hospital in the provincial capital to get checked out. Let's go there first to see what's going on, and then come back to discuss it with the village chief."

Just as she finished speaking, a woman pushed a wheelchair out. Sitting in the wheelchair was a young man whose face was obscured. He was wearing very loose and light clothes, but they were wrapped in bandages. It was definitely not the case that the villagers said he had "only broken his leg".

Normally, someone who has fallen like this should be bedridden to recover, but the villagers only care about the young man's leg, as if as long as the leg is okay, it doesn't matter what other parts of his body are injured.

Wu Wangwang, who was hiding in the corner, was stunned when she saw the young man come out. This person should be Dalin, who was going to marry her. It was hard to guess his exact age, but his injury was obvious - even if his leg was not broken, it was unlikely that he could stand up and get married after falling like this.

After the woman pushed Dalin out, the men stopped talking and began to work together to carry Dalin and the wheelchair onto the tractor. Considering that they would have to take care of Dalin at the hospital later, the men and women who were talking all got on the tractor and went to the provincial capital together.

The tractor roared away, kicking up a cloud of dust.

The door to the Dalin family's house was closed again, as if it had never been opened.

Wu Wangwang seemed to be deep in thought. What was certain now was that, regardless of whether Dalin had been selected as one of the players, he had temporarily broken free from the game rules and was outside the village, where he could disregard some rules that were only applicable to the village.

However, the men's words also provided useful information: almost everything in the village is decided by everyone together, and if there is something that cannot be decided, then go to the village chief.

Upon hearing the identity of the village chief, Wu Wangwang suddenly remembered that in yesterday's player self-description, a rather thin young man said that his identity was the village chief's hooligan nephew. The people in the village were sexist, and the woman's family was generally looked down upon by the man's family, so the identity of the village chief's nephew would not bring him much benefit.

The village chief's nephew's house is located in the western part of the village, which is quite remote. It's clear that the village chief didn't help his wife's family much, which is why his nephew became a hooligan.

But then again, if the village chief is an important figure, then the player who is most likely to get close to the village chief is only this nephew.

Wu Wangwang glanced at the gray sky. It seemed that the village had always been so depressing since it existed. Bright sunlight was never seen, and dark clouds pressed heavily over the entire village. Just looking at it made it hard to breathe.

Yesterday, the players didn't agree on a specific meeting time. It's probably because everyone is used to the different rules and it's hard to find a time when they can meet at the same time. Rather than meeting frequently and letting the NPCs notice something's wrong, it's better to use their identities to gather information first, and then exchange the information they've gathered through the game's mandatory meeting system.

The so-called mandatory gatherings are large-scale events that are fixed in the game, such as family dinners, village markets, festivals, and traditional celebrations. These events are designed so that everyone must participate and players cannot be absent, making them the best opportunities to meet up.

Now, it seems there's only one big event in the village—the wedding of the girl Zhenzhen to her fiancé Dalin.

Suddenly, Wu Wangwang found herself with nothing to do again. There was no one she knew around, and she didn't know who she should look for given her status. The players had agreed yesterday that she should find Dalin, but they hadn't told her what to do after finding him.

After thinking it over, Wu Wangwang simply sneaked back home. The widow didn't say what she was supposed to do at home; perhaps this was a time for players to move around freely. Unfortunately, she really didn't know what else she could do, so she could only stay by herself.

The widow's house had a very old wall clock that ran very slowly. To Wu Wangwang's sense of time, the clock was much slower, and it would occasionally make a clunking sound as the gears turned, which sounded very eerie in the quiet house.

Staring blankly at the clock on the bench for a long time, Wu Wangwang suddenly realized a problem: In the rules the widow told her, time was one of the standards for implementation, so why was the time on the clock wrong?

The wall clock runs much slower than real time, but the widow's daily life time is accurate. So what is the purpose of this wall clock?

Wu Wangwang thought about this problem, hesitated for a moment, got up to open the small door of the wall clock, tried to adjust the time, and found that the hands were very difficult to move, as if the gears behind were rusted and stuck. No one could force the wall clock to go to another time except for its own operation.

The clock that couldn't reset its time was a bit unsettling. Wu Wangwang pondered what a human would do. Given the personality of the original human girl, she probably wouldn't have noticed such a thing, since she was a very timid girl whose only thought was to survive.

Thinking of this, Wu Wangwang sat back down on the bench, waiting for other players to come to her, or for the widow to return.

After 10 a.m., the village seemed much brighter. Wu Wangwang kept track of the time. She needed to eat three meals a day like a human, because people would starve if they didn't eat.

Just as she was about to go eat, she suddenly noticed that someone had broken the game rules—players who broke the rules would die, but if they made a wish to the Demon Mother, they could cleverly avoid death and live to the end.

Wu Wangwang looked at the rice the widow had left for her in the pot, sighed helplessly, found a larger rice bowl, added the leftover sweet potato and brown rice with some strangely flavored wild vegetables, and walked out with the bowl in her hand.

Wu Wangwang could sense the location of the player's incident, and she could actually handle it remotely, but to prevent the game from noticing that a player was acting strangely, she had to go over herself to see what was going on.

On the way there, Wu Wangwang thought to herself: Once we get past this dungeon that she is so familiar with, the judges in the other dungeons won't be familiar with her, so even if she goes a little out of line, they won't notice.

At this time, the whole village clearly came alive. Young and middle-aged people went out to work, and even the women came out to walk around. Some brought their children, while others went out in groups of three or five to do women's work. The streets were quite lively.

The impending death amidst the festivities adds a touch of absurdity and irony to the spectacle.

The player who had the accident lived in the northeast of the village, not too far from Wu Wangwang's house. Not long after walking in the right direction, Wu Wangwang heard the villagers talking about it.

The player associated with this address is a girl, and the role she plays is that of the chef's wife.

This chef wasn't from any restaurant or canteen in the village. According to the girl's description, he seemed to be the head chef for important banquets in the village, such as wedding banquets, funeral banquets, and food for ancestral rites. Other junior chefs would help out, but he was the head chef and could determine the menu and prepare the main dishes.

According to the girl's description yesterday, she is to play the role of a submissive wife in this family. Her duties are similar to those of an ordinary married woman in the countryside: cleaning, cooking, and occasionally going out to buy groceries or purchase items for the family.

During the discussion, the players complained that among all the roles, the housewife is often the most difficult to play. It's not that it's difficult, but that there's little free time. The female player who is chosen to be the housewife basically hands over her life and fortune to other players. She can't get out of the game at all, and apart from providing information to others, she has no way to pass the game.

Wu Wangwang carried her rice bowl outside. People on the street were used to it, because she wasn't the only one carrying a rice bowl. Nobody dislikes watching a spectacle. It was almost lunchtime, so those who had prepared food at home naturally brought their bowls over to join in the fun.

Following the scattered crowd, Wu Wangwang walked to the outside of the chef's house where the accident occurred. She wasn't tall enough to see clearly inside, but she could tell what had happened as she got closer.

The chef was chasing after the player and hitting her. The female player tried to fight back but failed. It was clear that there were special rules binding her. Although she couldn't die, the wounds on her body would still hurt.

After listening for a while, Wu Wangwang roughly understood what had happened. It seemed that the head chef was supposed to go out to work today, and according to the village rules, the wife had to prepare everything the family needed in the morning, including food and farm tools.

The female player went out in the morning and didn't prepare lunch. The chef, who shouldn't have been back at noon, suddenly returned. After finding no food at home, he bumped into the female player who had just returned from investigating clues. Then came the inevitable rule—if you displease your in-laws, you will be beaten to death.

The widow emphasized this to Wu Wangwang at home. As the daughter-in-law, the female player should have also learned about this rule from her family. Unfortunately, she was caught by her husband the first time she sneaked out.

The husband didn't care why she went out, nor whether she could prepare the meal on time when she returned. He only knew that this woman had violated the rules that every wife in the village should abide by, and that those who violate the rules should face death.

After the people around understood what had happened, they joined in the commotion, saying that any woman who dared to go out was wild and should be taught a lesson; that women who don't listen to their parents haven't been beaten enough.

Some people worried that the chef might beat someone to death and advised, "Just hit him a few times, that's fine. The wedding is in a few days, and if he gets hurt, it's bad luck."

Upon hearing about the wedding in half a month, the chef, who was chasing after the female player, paused. Remembering this most important event for the entire village, he decided not to make a move. He pointed at the female player irritably and said, "Consider yourself lucky. I'll spare you this time because of the Lin family's wedding. Next time, I'll kill you."

When the villagers talk about slaughtering, they mean it. The women who are slaughtered are buried quietly on the mountain, and if anyone asks, they are told that they ran away with someone else.

The female player was covered in bruises, but luckily she had developed the ability to escape through the game, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to wait for the onlookers to persuade her to stop.

As Wu Wangwang watched the female player limp into the kitchen to prepare food for the family, she sighed deeply, remembering the remains of the women who had been offered as sacrifices on the mountain. Seeing that the female player was alright, she prepared to go back.

The people around her naturally recognized her, and seeing that there was no more excitement to watch, they suddenly came over to give her advice.

"Oh, it's Zhenzhen. You saw what your aunt looked like. When you get married, don't be like your aunt. Only by being obedient will you avoid being beaten, understand?"

"That's right, don't be like your mother. How can a wife bring bad luck to her husband?"

"The wedding is very important. You have to listen to your in-laws at the wedding, understand?"

...

Everyone seemed to assume that the wedding would go smoothly, and that once the wedding started, Zhenzhen would no longer be Zhenzhen, but the daughter-in-law of the Dalin family.

Wu Wangwang lowered her head shyly, grabbed her rice bowl, and ran away. After avoiding the crowd, she saw Brother Bao passing by, so she went over and called out to him, "Brother Bao."

Hearing the voice, Bao Ge stopped and turned around to see Wu Wangwang. His expression immediately darkened: "Why are you everywhere? You're such a bad omen."

"I'm a little unlucky, but I have some information I want to tell you." Wu Wangwang didn't think that he was insulting her by saying she was unlucky. After all, no ghost is without bad luck. If a ghost wasn't unlucky, it would be too useless.

"..." Brother Bao couldn't understand Wu Wangwang's thought process. What kind of good person would feel unlucky?

Wu Wangwang didn't expect to wait for Bao Ge's reply. She said directly, "I don't want to go too far, so you can decide for yourself whether to bring my message to other players. First, the character Da Lin exists, but he broke his leg a few days ago and was sent to the provincial hospital this morning."

This news is one of the best news for the players so far. Even someone as hot-tempered as Brother Bao managed to hold back his sarcastic remarks towards Wu Wangwang: "Wait, so you already went to the Lin family's house this morning? How did you find the Lin family's house?"

Regarding this question, Wu Wangwang answered frankly: "Because I am his fiancée, I have the right to visit him before he goes to the hospital. The villagers seem to be very happy to see that I have a good relationship with Dalin, or rather, that I am giving him money."

Brother Bao frowned, feeling a strange sensation he couldn't quite put his finger on.

Wu Wangwang continued, "Isn't it strange? Everyone in this village looks down on people who are wives, yet they have a kind of mission-like fervor for having wives."

“It’s not surprising,” Bao Ge shook his head. “You’ve never seen that kind of rural area, have you? There are plenty of places like that. What I find strange is that you shouldn’t have been allowed to meet the man in the first place.”

When this was mentioned, Wu Wangwang paused for a moment: "What do you mean?" She was unaware of some of the strange customs that belonged to humans.

Bao Ge replied, "According to our local custom, the bride and groom shouldn't meet before the wedding; it's considered unlucky. How come it's the other way around here? You, as the bride, are actually being expected to see the groom?"

Wu Wangwang pondered, "Could it be because the groom broke his leg and they want me to go and offer him some encouragement?"

"Even if that's the reason, this village is all about good fortune. Do you think they would allow you to have bad luck in a place like this?" Brother Bao asked with a sneer.

What could a girl named Zhenzhen possibly do to make the village compromise?

It's obvious that there isn't.

The villagers' reason for wanting Zhenzhen to visit her injured fiancé is quite intriguing.

Wu Wangwang kept this in mind: "Okay, I'll keep an eye on this. There's a second thing. I noticed that the Lin family said that if he can't stand up and attend the wedding with me, they'll go to the village chief to ask what to do."

When a new character appears in the plot, they will play a certain role. Bao Ge immediately understood what Wu Wangwang meant: "You want me to go find the village chief's nephew?"

"It's up to you. It would be too strange to go looking for her rashly. Anyway, I only got these two pieces of information. You can tell them to whomever you want. I probably won't go out much from now on. As a potential wife, it seems like a wise choice to stay home. If you need anything, just go to the widow's house to find me. I'll usually be there." After saying goodbye to Brother Bao, Wu Wangwang took her rice bowl and went home.

Brother Bao didn't linger, nor did he mention whether he had obtained any other information. In his view, Wu Wangwang was one of the players who could survive. The other party might disdain his information, but he had no way to save himself and had to be extremely cautious.

As expected, the widow did not return at noon. Wu Wangwang finished the food the widow had left for her. She didn't know if she had eaten a lot or not, but as long as the widow didn't object, it meant that everything was within the rules.

The village was noticeably calmer in the afternoon; the noise stopped and the conflicts disappeared, as if it had returned to the peaceful scene of dawn.

The clock struck five o'clock, but the exact time was 5:43; it had slowed down again.

The widow returned home with the same food and farm tools as yesterday. She silently packed her things, then washed vegetables and prepared dinner. Wu Wangwang didn't need the widow to remind her again today; she took the initiative to start a fire. She tried to start a fire but found it difficult to get the firewood burning, so she simply used other methods.

Smoke curled from the chimney. The widow didn't mention any rules today, and there was a sudden silence between the two. Wu Wangwang didn't know how a mother and daughter should get along in a normal family, but she didn't dislike the widow's silence.

As they were preparing to boil water for a bath after dinner, the widow suddenly asked, "Did you go see Dalin today?"

Wu Wangwang paused in her work of putting out firewood, then nodded: "Yeah, I heard it's a bit serious and he needs to be taken to the provincial hospital for a checkup, so I wanted to go see him, but I didn't make it in time."

The widow didn't say anything immediately after hearing this. She waited until the water boiled before saying, "Don't go next time. It's not appropriate. When the time comes, your wedding is the most important thing."

Then the widow brought her own hot water and urged Wu Wangwang to take a bath. According to the rules, the daughter-in-law could only use the remaining hot water from the whole family, so the widow told Wu Wangwang to go first and she would take care of the rest.

Wu Wangwang nodded in agreement and carried the bucket to the bathhouse. As she showered, she thought to herself, "Brother Bao was right. For some reason, the village has decided to give in to the custom that it's unlucky for newlyweds to meet before marriage."

But what purpose does their meeting serve in this game?

Or rather, what special meaning does their meeting have for the players?

The night was peaceful as always. The widow was like a precise machine; even without a precise time reminder, she could still tidy up everything and go to bed at the same time every day.

At 4:30 a.m. the next day, the widow woke up Wu Wangwang to begin a new day.

There were thirteen days left until the wedding.

Before leaving, the widow took out a few coins and gave them to Wu Wangwang, saying, "I found out last night when I was packing that I hadn't prepared enough needles and thread for you. Remember to go to the market today to buy some. The village market is open now. If you can find a mirror, buy a red one too. Mine is a bit old."

Wu Wangwang took the money, carefully placed it behind her, and then asked, "Is there anything else you want to buy?"

"I can't think of anything right now. I'll check when I get back tonight and I'm tidying up your dowry," the widow said.

Watching the widow leave, Wu Wangwang glanced down at her pocket, feeling that this was a routine little task, something that might not matter whether she did it or not, but it was best to do it, otherwise it would affect the final big task—the wedding.

Having a chance to go out is better than being a housewife who can't go out at all. Besides, if there's a market today, other players might go too, and they can exchange information. It's really too slow for her to collect everything by herself as a widow.

The market was located in the northern part of the village center. The widow's house happened to be at the northernmost part of the village. After leaving the house, you just need to walk south. Wu Wangwang didn't really know the way, so after going around a few side roads, she followed the other pedestrians.

Women tend to go to markets more often, but men do too. However, compared to women who finally get to go out, men aren't as enthusiastic about it unless they want something.

After all, people are often blind to the abundance of things they possess.

Upon arriving at the market, Wu Wangwang discovered that it seemed to be just a small market. The women complained that some items were not available, and the vendors said that since it wasn't a big day, they could come back on a big day if they didn't have what they needed.

The so-called big days are usually the first and fifteenth of the lunar month, or some major festival. Otherwise, it should be a small market.

The market has both open-air and covered stalls. Open-air stalls are generally cheaper than those under the awning. It's not that there's any difference between the two, but the stalls under the awning have to pay money to the village government, so they naturally sell for more.

Just then, the needles, thread, and mirror that Wu Wangwang needed were sold under the shed. These kinds of things that only women would buy were almost all from the same store. In addition to needles, thread, and mirrors, they also sold things like face cream, floral water, and face powder.

When Wu Wangwang arrived, she realized that these stalls sold both daily necessities and wedding supplies, which were for girls getting married.

After picking out the items the widow had mentioned, Wu Wangwang couldn't help but ask the stall owner, "Are all these things needed for a wedding?"

The stall owner smiled knowingly: "Yes, you're getting married to Dalin soon, right? Your mom must have sent you to buy this. Remember to wrap it in red paper when you get home. You can't open it before the wedding, it's bad luck if you do."

It was wrapped up and considered part of the dowry.

Wu Wangwang nodded: "Okay, thank you, boss lady."

After buying her things, Wu Wangwang turned around and went to browse other stalls. She still had some money left, which was probably extra pocket money that the widow had deliberately given her so that she could buy whatever she wanted. After all, how could a child resist buying herself a snack when she went out shopping?

However, Wu Wangwang didn't want to buy snacks; she wanted to find other players instead.

The market was small, and since it wasn't a major market day, many spots weren't filled. Only vendors who were short of money and had a lot of goods would insist on setting up their stalls.

After wandering around, Wu Wangwang ran into the woman who had been with Brother Bao before. She was one of the players who hadn't managed to get a wish slot. Her identity was rather strange; she was a mourner who mourned at funerals. Occasionally, when a bride needed to cry for her wedding but couldn't, she would help her out.

People associated with funerals are often ostracized, especially in a village that values ​​auspiciousness. That's why this mourning woman's house is located in a very remote area.

Upon seeing her at the market, Wu Wangwang went over and greeted her, "Sangniang, do you remember me?"

The woman was too lazy to think of a name, so she just told everyone to call her Sangniang, since her identity was also conveniently known as the Mourning Mother.

Sang Niang stopped in her tracks, carrying a stack of papers in several colors, with red and white being the most common: "It's you. Are you here to buy something at the market?"

"Well, the widow asked me to buy the dowry for the wedding. What are you buying paper for?" Wu Wangwang asked bluntly.

"Huh?" Sang Niang glanced at the needle and mirror in Wu Wangwang's hand, then looked down at the paper. "I bought this paper to make paper cuttings. My 'mother' told me that I'm going to prepare red 'double happiness' characters for you, so I'm buying paper of various colors. We'll use it before and after the wedding."

Wu Wangwang raised her eyebrows: "So, this wedding of mine was actually attended by the entire village?"

The conclusion was hastily drawn, but it was hard for Wu Wangwang not to think about it. The female player who was beaten yesterday morning was staying at the wedding chef's house. His family was preparing food for the wedding, so the female player could survive even after crossing the rule line.

The woman I met today, Sang Niang, whose job was originally to wail at funerals, still took on a certain preparation work for the wedding.

Does this mean that other players also have wedding-related tasks?

After hearing Wu Wangwang's words, Sang Niang suddenly realized: "That's right, now that you put it that way, it makes sense. Others should gradually realize that the things we've prepared are for the wedding. It's just a wedding, is it really that important?"

Even if everyone in the village is related, it's unlikely that the whole village would come to help when two young people get married.

The Lin family might be a possibility, but Zhenzhen's family only has one widow. Why would anyone else in the village give her family face?

Wu Wangwang shook her head, indicating that she did not understand. She then told Sangniang about Dalin's situation and said that she had met Bao Ge yesterday and had informed him. However, Bao Ge had no further information at the moment, so she told Sangniang to decide what to do next.

There weren't many more players in the market for the time being, so Wu Wangwang prepared to go back.

As she turned to leave, Sang Niang called out to her, "Wait, what are you planning to do after this? Are you really going to attend this wedding?"

Wu Wangwang turned to look at her and said, "Let's take it one step at a time. It's not like we have to participate. Besides, the person who can't participate shouldn't be me."

It's Dalin, who might never come back.

Upon hearing this, Sang Niang frowned: "Are you sure you saw it clearly? Is Da Lin really so badly injured that he can't take care of himself?"

If someone falls and becomes paralyzed, and the whole village still expects them to be able to stand up and attend the wedding, it seems very strange, doesn't it?

Wu Wangwang said with certainty, "I am absolutely not mistaken. Dalin's injuries are so severe that he can hardly stand up. His whole body is wrapped in gauze, and he can't do anything. His family has to carry him in and out of the car. Moreover... I suspect that his spine is also broken, and he can't lift his head."

If Da Lin hadn't ended up like this, Wu Wangwang wouldn't have said that it would be difficult for Da Lin to attend the wedding; indeed, it would be very difficult for him to come back for the wedding.

Sang Niang, however, raised another possibility: "But you've never seen Da Lin. How do you know that the person with the broken leg and his whole body wrapped in bandages is Da Lin?"

Wu Wangwang was stunned: "Because... those people said he was Dalin."

“But no one saw Dalin’s face, including when he came back from treatment and attended your wedding. If you can’t see his face, how can you be sure it’s Dalin?” Sang Niang still felt something was wrong.

Perhaps Sang Niang is a bit sensitive, but her idea makes a lot of sense.

How can you prove that someone you've never met is your groom?

Even if other villagers had seen Dalin, when Dalin injured his face and feet, they still couldn't see his face clearly. Their identity depended entirely on what his parents said, rather than on their own ability to recognize that person as Dalin.

Wu Wangwang was momentarily dazed: "So there's this possibility too..."

"In short, it's best to be careful about the wedding. Don't blame me for not reminding you. Sometimes, it's not that the plot and rules dictate that players have to follow them. If every rule were beneficial to the players, we wouldn't need to rush to make wishes at all."

The reason people rush to make wishes is because the success rate is low, and no one is confident that they can survive under multiple rules.

Wu Wangwang thanked Sang Niang and walked back with her doubts. She had to go back, otherwise she might miss the rule of returning home before dark.

On the way back, they met two players who already had the right to make a wish. Wu Wangwang shared her information with them, and they shared their information in return.

The two were responsible for preparing the drinks and equipment for the wedding. Two days into the game, they should have been looking for information, but instead they were running around for the wedding and hadn't had a moment to relax. They had to get everything ready before the wedding and have the women cleaned up.

Besides their own information, they also told Wu Wangwang that it seemed all the players were now working together for Wu Wangwang's wedding, and everyone had been assigned a task, as if the thirteen players were there just to make the wedding go smoothly.

They didn't talk for long. The two players were in a hurry to get on their way, so they quickly explained the situation and left.

The delay on the road meant I didn't get home until 2 PM, which was due to my unfamiliarity with the route and a miscalculation of the time.

The game referee remained missing, and the players were completely absorbed by the wedding. The most relaxed person in the entire village was probably Wu Wangwang, one of the main characters in the wedding.

The widow arrived home on time. As usual, she washed vegetables and cooked first. Only after finishing did she have time to ask Wu Wangwang if she had bought anything suitable. The widow was very satisfied after hearing from Wu Wangwang that she had bought everything.

Today, the widow clearly kept herself on a tighter schedule, trying to find time to check if the things Wu Wangwang had bought were up to standard. After confirming that there were no problems, she prepared to go to bed. Suddenly, Wu Wangwang asked her, "Mom, will my wedding be big?"

Upon hearing this, the widow looked up at her, her eyes not quite clear: "Yes, it will be a big one. Everyone will be attending your wedding, so don't be nervous."

Wu Wangwang shook her head: "I'm not nervous. I'm just curious how many people will attend my wedding, and my mother too. Why is everyone coming to my wedding? We don't seem to have that many relatives."

The widow said, "Because we are family, living in the village, we are all family. Marriage is a big event, don't overthink it, just wait for the wedding."

The widow refused to say anything more, and began packing her things to go to bed.

Because the rules couldn't be broken, Wu Wangwang could only sleep with the widow and wait for the next 4:30 a.m.

There are twelve days left. Generally speaking, after three days in the game, players gradually understand the rules and direction of the dungeon. Like the dungeon right now, players have to work together to organize a rather unusual wedding. Everyone knows that something is wrong with this wedding, but they can't quite put their finger on why.

That day, the widow gave Wu Wangwang another task: to find the tailor and ask if the dress was finished, and to try it on to check the size. If everything was okay, she could take it back.

The deposit for the dress has already been paid, and the balance will be paid after the dress is tried on. The widow said that she had already arranged with the other party that Wu Wangwang would go to try it on first today, and if it was suitable, she would bring it back. Then the widow would go to pay separately. If it wasn't suitable, she would have it altered, and the widow would bring it back when she went to pay later.

The reason for not paying today is that the widow is worried that the final payment for the dress is too large and that Wu Wangwang might lose it.

Wu Wangwang didn't pay attention. After having breakfast, she checked the situation at home and went out to find a tailor.

Regarding the location of the tailor, Wu Wangwang asked several people on the way, and they all pointed to different places. Later, when she found the location, she realized that those people were not wrong, because the bride originally needed three dresses.

The first set is for the wedding, the second set is for the toasting, and the third set is for the meal.

There were three dresses in total, made by three different companies, and Wu Wangwang had no idea which one the "widow" was referring to, or whether all three were.

Considering the thinking of a normal person, Wu Wangwang first went to the tailor who made the first wedding dress. When she arrived, she discovered that the dress was a Chinese-style wedding gown with a red veil and a long skirt, and the shawl was also embroidered with very beautiful patterns.

Wu Wangwang's first reaction upon seeing the wedding dress was that something was wrong, because given the widow's family's circumstances, she couldn't possibly afford such a fine wedding dress.

The tailor seemed completely unconcerned about the widow's inability to pay, and warmly welcomed Wu Wangwang before helping her put on her wedding dress.

The wedding dress fit perfectly, clearly made by a master tailor. After she put it on, the tailor pushed up a full-length mirror for Wu Wang to look at herself. He praised her, saying, "Zhenzhen is beautiful, and she looks even more gorgeous in this. Is there anything you're not satisfied with? We can make a few minor alterations."

Looking at the beautiful girl in the mirror, Wu Wangwang hesitated, "Isn't it... a bit too glamorous?"

"No, it's made according to the normal style. Wear it with confidence. It's just a pretty dress. Your in-laws won't mind if you're dressed too nicely," the tailor said with a smile.

The wedding dress was finally decided. Wu Wangwang couldn't understand why her in-laws would dislike her for wearing something gorgeous and beautiful, but she couldn't understand even more why a widow's family could afford to spend so much money on a gorgeous wedding dress.

If you have too many doubts, there's no need to dwell on minor issues; in the end, they're just personal problems.

The wedding dress was fine, so Wu Wangwang took it and went to the second tailor. This time, she tried on the toast dress, a beautiful white and gold gown with a touch of cheongsam. It was clearly a modified version with layers of skirts, a combination of Chinese and Western styles.

The dresses were beautiful and gorgeous, and the third one was no exception. None of the three gowns looked cheap. The tailors didn't tell Wu Wangwang the specific prices, but you could tell from the styles that they were definitely not inexpensive.

Because she was carrying things, Wu Wangwang couldn't go find other players—no teenage girl could carry dozens of kilograms of clothes all over the village.

Back home, Wu Wangwang looked at the three dresses on the bed and felt something was off. She wanted to ask someone if this was normal.

Just then, the clock struck midnight. Wu Wangwang glanced out the window and, feeling that it was still early, decided to hurry up and find the female players nearby. Female players were more interested in these small clothing-related issues and were more likely to get answers from them.

Wu Wangwang locked the door and went to the chef's house first. The chef hadn't come back today, and the female player was recuperating at home alone, while also taking care of the messy chores around the house.

The female player in the chef's family is called Shigu (十姑), which is the order of the children in her maternal family.

When Aunt Shi saw Wu Wangwang coming over, she immediately looked around warily. Only after confirming that no one else was around and that the head chef hadn't returned did she walk to the back of the courtyard gate and ask through it, "Why did you come over?"

"I'd like to exchange some information with you, is that alright?" Wu Wangwang asked politely.

"Of course you can. I can't even go out, and no other players have come looking for me. It would be great if you could use this." Aunt Shi breathed a sigh of relief. She felt too oppressed in this house. If it weren't for the rules, she would have liked to chop the whole family into mincemeat.

Time was precious, so the two didn't exchange many pleasantries and went straight to exchanging information.

Wu Wangwang was telling us what she had learned after three days of investigation, and what Aunt Shi said was not much different from what Wu Wangwang had guessed.

The head chef is indeed going to cook at Wu Wangwang's wedding banquet, and the menu has already been finalized. For the past two weeks, he has been going with others to prepare ingredients and doesn't need to work in the fields. It's because the other party isn't working that Aunt Shi can't even go out, as the other party could come back at any time.

The uncertainty of when the man would return completely deprived Aunt Shi of any possibility of going out to gather information. The only source of information was that irritable man, and even then, the amount of information was pitifully small.

Wu Wangwang had already guessed that the chef would be busy with the wedding preparations. She thought for a moment and asked, "Do you know anything about the wedding menu and the dresses? I feel something is a bit strange, like... this wedding is too grand for two ordinary families to have."

It's not that Wu Wangwang is discriminating or feels unworthy; it's that the whole thing is unreasonable. When two families get married, it's understandable to spend as much money as possible to prepare for the wedding for the sake of the child. But is it normal to use the resources of the entire village to hold the grandest wedding?

In other words, it is common for the whole village to hold an ancestral worship ceremony at the same time, so how can a wedding make the whole village do their best to give the newlyweds the highest level of respect?

Either something is wrong with this wedding, or the two newlyweds have special identities.

Aunt Shi replied softly, "The menu is there, but I haven't heard of any wedding dresses. I can't ask about that. Let me put it this way: Aunt Shi's husband is an unlucky man. He somehow caused his father's death when he was a child. His mother raised him with great difficulty, but she didn't get to enjoy her life for long before she suddenly became paralyzed. Now he's the only able-bodied man in the family."

As she spoke, Aunt Shi went back and got a menu for Wu Wangwang to look at. She could only look at it, not take it away, and she would have to put it back later.

While Wu Wangwang was looking at the menu, her aunt whispered to her for a while, saying that the chef looked down on everyone, but in reality he didn't have any special skills. He just inherited his father's cooking skills, which is why he was allowed to cook for all kinds of banquets in the village.

This alone made the chef boast about it endlessly, as if the whole village couldn't function without him.

In addition, Aunt Shi also suspected that the chef's parents' death and paralysis were related to him, otherwise how could his parents have had problems while he was completely unharmed?

After looking at the menu and getting a general idea of ​​the wedding banquet, Wu Wangwang told her aunt to put it back quickly. Then she said to her, "It's hard for you to follow him. He must be very busy preparing for the wedding recently, and his temper may be even worse. Try to avoid him."

After saying goodbye to Aunt Shi, Wu Wangwang went to Sang Niang's house.

Unlike Shigu's family, Sangniang's family consisted entirely of women: a grandmother, a mother, and an aunt. It wasn't surprising that Sangniang saw Wu Wang looking over. With a channel for information, it was hard for players to resist using it.

It was getting dark, so Wu Wangwang cut to the chase and asked Sang Niang if she knew anything more about the wedding.

Sang Niang thought for a while and shook her head: "I don't know, but I think that, given my family's situation, as an NPC mourner, I should know."

In other words, the family of the mourner will let her know why Wu Wangwang's wedding was so strange, but the player doesn't know.

Players have limited information about their identities, and it's already quite an achievement to play the role well. If they want more information, they have to probe little by little; it's not something they can just ask for and know immediately.

Wu Wangwang sighed: "Alright, thank you. If there's any news later, we'll exchange information again."

"Alright, you should go back now. Women aren't allowed to go out at night in the village. Don't get caught." Sang Niang didn't dare to delay Wu Wangwang any longer and urged her to go back quickly.

The village has strict rules. Even if you are protected by the Ghost Mother Goddess and will not die, you will still suffer physical pain.

Wu Wangwang hurried home as fast as she could, finally arriving just as the last rays of light appeared. The widow had already returned and was cooking in the kitchen as usual. Since Wu Wangwang wasn't there, she lit the fire herself.

The widow glanced up at Wu Wangwang standing at the kitchen doorway, stood up, and offered her her seat, asking, "Where did you go? Why didn't you just stay home after taking the dress?"

"Oh, I went to visit Aunt Shi and the Mourning Mother to ask them what they'll be doing at my wedding," Wu Wangwang replied half-jokingly. She was being proactive in revealing the details rather than letting the widow find out from others tomorrow, where those who love a good show might embellish the story.

Sure enough, upon hearing that Wu Wangwang was only curious about the wedding, the widow's attitude softened considerably: "People are busy too. Don't keep looking for others before the wedding. If there's anything you want to know, you can come and ask me."

Wu Wangwang added firewood to the stove: "But Mom, you're never home during the day, and you're always busy at night. It seems like you don't have much time to listen to me."

The widow paused after hearing this: "I've just been a bit busy preparing for your wedding lately, but things will be fine once this busy period is over. You can ask me anything then."

For a moment, Wu Wangwang didn't know whether the widow was speaking sincerely or just making excuses, so he could only give a vague reply.

The day passed smoothly, and the widow was very satisfied with the three dresses. She hung them up, saying she would personally dress Wu Wangwang in them on the wedding day.

Before going to bed, Wu Wangwang snuggled up to the widow and whispered, "Mom, Brother Dalin went to the city with his parents. Do you think he'll make it to the wedding?"

In the darkness, the widow's eyes were closed, as if she were already asleep. She answered in a muffled voice, "Don't overthink it. The wedding will go smoothly. These are not things for a child like you to worry about."

Before marriage, people seem like children; after marriage, they immediately have to act like adults.

Wu Wangwang couldn't understand this precipitous growth in humanity; she just felt it was completely illogical.

When the widow got up again, there were eleven days left.

The widow's task for today is simple: Wu Wangwang needs to buy hair accessories.

Wu Wangwang asked one more question: "What kind of hair accessory?"

"I've prepared a gold hairpin for you for the wedding, but it seems too plain with just a gold hairpin. Go and see if there are any new designs. You can also go to the flower shop. Wearing flowers in this life will make you beautiful in the next. You definitely need to wear flowers for your wedding." The widow said this and went out, leaving Wu Wangwang with a dozen or so yuan.

Of the ten-odd yuan, some was for buying hair accessories, and some was for trying out new hair accessories.

Wu Wangwang went outside and realized that the widow's words were somewhat ominous.

If a daughter is about to get married, would a mother say something like, "Wearing flowers in this life will make you beautiful in the next"?

Saying such things before a wedding sounds like foreshadowing the grave of marriage.

Wu Wangwang went to the shop designated by the widow, went inside to look at some headdresses, and then heard the proprietress say that when the wedding came, she would go to the widow's house to do Wu Wangwang's makeup and hair.

Since they were both makeup artists, Wu Wangwang simply let the other party decide whether they wanted artificial flowers or fresh flowers.

The proprietress thought for a moment and said, "Let's use real flowers. Real flowers symbolize real love, while fake flowers might not have such a good meaning."

Wu Wangwang didn't understand these things. After writing them down, she asked the proprietress what kind of flowers she needed.

"A red one, and a big one, will do. A wedding definitely needs to be festive," the proprietress said.

When they arrived at the flower shop, Wu Wangwang looked at a field of red flowers and, following the florist's advice, chose peonies and camellias, both of which were intricate and beautiful, perfect for a wedding.

However, it's unlikely that Wu Wangwang could make a proper purchase of flowers by herself alone. So, Wu Wangwang bought one of each type and planned to take them back to the widow to see. If the widow had no objections, she would use both types.

The route from the widow's house to the flower shop passes right by Da Lin's house.

As Wu Wangwang walked back with the flowers in her hands, she pretended to be passing by and saw that Da Lin's house was closed, just like when Da Lin had left before.

An elderly woman with poor eyesight was sitting in the shade in front of her neighbor's house. Thinking someone was looking for her, she called out loudly, "Dalin isn't home. They haven't come back yet."

Hearing the old lady's words, Wu Wangwang seemed to be deep in thought: "When will they be back?"

"I don't know." The old lady refused to say more, closed her eyes, and lay down on her small chair as if she had passed away.

Unable to get any more information, Wu Wangwang could only continue her journey home.

I haven't seen any other players in the last two days. Everyone seems to be tied up with what they're doing. Even Wu Wangwang is going to different places every day for a strange wedding.

She stayed home in a daze until dark. When the widow returned, she saw the flowers Wu Wangwang had chosen. After glancing at them a few times, she was quite satisfied and decided that these were the two flowers she wanted. She would go to the florist later to order another bouquet so that the flowers delivered on the wedding day would be fresh.

Just when Wu Wangwang thought the truth would be revealed on the wedding day, Sang Niang suddenly sent a message saying that Bao Ge was dead. At this time, there were still nine days until the wedding.

Wu Wangwang was home alone again. After the widow told Wu Wangwang what to prepare for the day, she went out.

Sang Niang returned after Wu Wangwang finished shopping, looking exhausted as she told Wu Wangwang about Bao Ge's situation.

Upon hearing this news, Wu Wangwang was also surprised. Since Brother Bao hadn't made a wish, Wu Wangwang wouldn't be able to keep track of the other party's movements all the time unless she paid special attention.

"What happened?" Wu Wangwang quickly ushered people in and asked in a heavy voice.

Sang Niang sat on the bench, watching Wu Wangwang pour her water, and replied, "I only found out when I was called to prepare for the funeral. The family was vague, and I don't know exactly what happened. I guess the other players don't know either, but it's certain that the person is dead, but the family hasn't made a fuss about it."

Wu Wangwang placed the bowl of water next to Sang Niang: "Is the reason for keeping quiet about the wedding?"

The water was cold, and Sang Niang couldn't drink any more after taking a sip. She felt a chill in her teeth. "Well, I heard from Bao Ge's family that the funeral will be postponed until after your wedding. But the burial can be done first, and the funeral can be held later. So I'm going to go to the grave to mourn from tomorrow night to the night after tomorrow."

Instead of mourning, we cry at the grave. We cry there for three days straight, which is considered a way of sending off the deceased.

Wu Wangwang's expression was cryptic: "Is this wedding really so important that even the funeral has to take a backseat?"

Sang Niang shook her head: "I don't know. I came to you because I'm scared, very scared. There were only four people who didn't get the right to make a wish, and Brother Bao died today. What about us? What are we going to do? We don't even know how Brother Bao died, whether he broke the rules or triggered the death rule, we have no idea..."

Violating the rules and triggering the death rule are two different things. Violating the rules means knowing the rules but accidentally going overboard, just like Aunt Shi. She knew that women had to take care of the family, so she only went out when no one was around. She didn't expect the chef to come back early, which caused her to suddenly violate the rules.

Triggering the death rule is another matter. Perhaps Brother Bao didn't even know there was such a prohibition, and he just inadvertently crossed the line.

The latter is often more terrifying. Players who trigger the death rule cannot leave a warning, and those who follow may still follow in their footsteps.

If the rules of death can kill one person, they can kill a second. Before you understand the rules of death, you have to pay with your own life.

Sang Niang's eyes turned red with fear. She was conflicted. She hated Wu Wangwang for snatching the wishing spot in such an incomprehensible way, but she also felt that she couldn't tell anyone about her fear. Only Wu Wangwang could listen to her.

By this point, the other players must all have their own agendas. Only Wu Wangwang, whose thinking is a bit off, might still have some pity for the player. Even if she heard about her pain and fear, she wouldn't laugh at her.

Wu Wangwang thought for a moment and said, "Calm down first. No one dies silently. There must have been some traces of Brother Bao's death. Think about it carefully, did his family really not show any signs?"

With Sang Niang's observational skills and logical thinking, she shouldn't be unable to see the strangeness in the matter. She was able to figure out the authenticity of Da Lin, so there's no reason why she wouldn't see anything wrong with what happened to Bao Ge. She was just scared.

Sang Niang covered her head: "I can't calm down. Wu Wangwang, you probably can't imagine how desperate a player without protection would feel when their companion dies, as if they are the next one to die."

Wu Wangwang fell silent. She truly couldn't imagine that she wasn't the one who participated in the previous three Nights of Return of the Soul. She didn't really have much of a reaction to this kind of game. Anyway, knowing the ending, avoiding the conditions for death was a piece of cake for her.

Different perspectives lead to vastly different mindsets.

After Sang Niang calmed down a bit, Wu Wangwang said, "Sang Niang, perhaps Brother Bao only triggered one point."

Sang Niang was stunned for a moment, then looked up: "What?"

“Village Chief,” Wu Wangwang replied in a low voice.

“Village Chief?” Sang Niang put down her hand, straightened up, and regained her senses a little. “You mean, as you told him before, the village chief can decide all the major matters in the village, so he went to see the village chief? But you also told him that it would be best to start with the village chief’s nephew.”

Wu Wangwang blinked: "I don't think he'll listen to me. Bao Ge's attitude towards me is very clear. He hates me for preventing him from getting the right to make a wish. So even if he believes the information I give him, he won't listen to my advice to go and discuss it with the village chief's nephew first."

By taking one less step, he was essentially uncovering the village's secrets on his own, so it's no wonder he was silenced.

Hearing this, Sang Niang finally calmed down completely: "You, you're right... In this village, the only person who can kill someone silently and shut everyone up is..."

The village chief's name was too terrifying for Sang Niang to speak, and she remained silent for a while before saying, "...But what exactly did he know that made the village chief take action?"

Wu Wangwang shook her head: "I don't know about that. Anyway, if you're scared, just avoid the clues from the village chief. There are still nine days left. Living to the wedding is more important than anything else."

Sang Niang agreed with Wu Wangwang's words and decided not to investigate Bao Ge's death, and to avoid people and things related to the village chief.

After their conversation, it was getting late, and Sang Niang had to go back to prepare for the grave-crying ceremony. A person can't cry for three consecutive days, so she needed to prepare things to cry with, as well as medicine, in order to avoid actually going blind from crying.

After seeing Sang Niang off, Wu Wangwang returned to the house. She looked up at the clock and suddenly realized how coincidental it was. Of the fourteen players, one had died in front of the Ghost Mother Temple. Excluding the bride, there were twelve players left. Just like the time on the clock, whoever was pointed to would die.

The clock struck five times. It seemed to be running a little slow today. The widow had returned.

The widow asked Wu Wangwang what Sangniang had come for earlier, presumably because she had run into Sangniang who was rushing out.

Considering that Bao Ge's matter needed to be kept secret, Wu Wangwang said, "Come and see me. It must be so boring for me to be at home all by myself waiting to get married."

The reason was reasonable enough that the widow didn't ask any further questions.

The next day, Wu Wangwang still went out to buy things. This time, she wanted to buy shoes. She wanted to prepare three pairs of shoes so that she could have shoes to match every outfit.

On the way, Wu Wangwang paid special attention to the passersby. From the first two days, it was clear that the villagers loved to watch the excitement. Even when they were busy and about to eat, they would still go to watch the excitement.

However, not a single villager mentioned such a serious event as Brother Bao's death.

Wu Wangwang even considered asking someone if they knew about this, but considering the village chief and the referee hiding in the village, she gave up on this crazy idea.

As an ordinary person, how could she risk doing something uncertain?

In particular, she was originally a very timid little girl.

After buying the shoes, Wu Wangwang took a detour to visit Bao Ge's house. From afar, she saw that their gate was tightly closed, just like Da Lin's house. The only difference was that Da Lin's house was truly empty, while Bao Ge's family was hiding.

Wu Wangwang couldn't see anything special about it. As she turned to leave, she saw Da Gao moving furtively at an intersection in the distance, so she went over to him.

Da Gao didn't see Wu Wangwang at first. He turned around to look around and then saw her. He was so frightened that he fell to the ground. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw who she was: "Oh, you scared me to death! How come you walk so quietly?"

"I was afraid of scaring you, so I came over quietly because you looked very nervous," Wu Wangwang said apologetically, not expecting that she still frightened him.

"Just call me if you need anything. Showing up like this is scary." Da Gao quickly got up, brushed off the dirt, and hid in the corner.

Wu Wangwang looked at him strangely: "Why did you hide to talk? I saw you acting suspiciously just now."

Da Gao breathed carefully and said in a low voice, "I came to check on Bao Ge. I heard from Sang Niang that he died."

Yesterday, Brother Bao just died. How many people did Sang Niang notify?

“I also heard from Sang Niang yesterday that he was dead. Now it seems that he is indeed not alive, but how did Sang Niang notify so many people?” Wu Wangwang asked in confusion.

Da Gao didn't find anything strange about it: "It's normal. Sang Niang looks like a very timid player. One characteristic of this type of player is that she is very insecure. She needs to talk about what she is afraid of over and over again and get other people to tell her relevant information. The more information she gets, the more at ease she feels."

Wu Wangwang pondered for a moment: "So, according to you, Sang Niang actually told all the players about this? And possibly even told the NPCs at home?"

When asked about this, Da Gao neither confirmed nor denied it: "I don't know. It mainly depends on whether she got the information she wanted. Once she got it, she usually calms down and keeps quiet."

Speaking of useful information, Wu Wangwang seemed thoughtful: "Sang Niang came to see me yesterday afternoon. What time did she find you?"

Da Gao thought for a moment: "It was also in the afternoon, around three o'clock, I guess. She probably came to find you right after she finished looking for you. She couldn't hold it in anymore, and she was scared, so she would find someone to protect her. But in the current situation, besides the Ghost Mother, who can save her?"

Wu Wangwang raised an eyebrow: "Even the Ghost Mother isn't omnipotent; she still has to save herself when necessary."

“It’s no use telling me this, you have to tell her,” Da Gao waved his hand, not wanting to discuss the issue anymore. “By the way, do you have any information to exchange? I may not have much information.”

Since it's a rare opportunity to meet, there's no reason not to exchange information. Players have less and less time, and everyone seems to be getting busier and busier. If we don't exchange information when we meet, the next time we'll probably see each other will be at a wedding.

Wu Wangwang told Da Gao about the information she had exchanged with several players over the past few days. After she finished speaking, she pretended to listen attentively, wanting to know what Da Gao had gained.

Da Gao's expression became somewhat subtle after hearing this: "I was a little surprised at first, but after hearing what you said, it doesn't seem so surprising anymore."

Judging from what the other party said, there must be some crucial clue. Originally, I didn't know what the clue was for, but it became complete after adding the clue from Wu Wangwang's side.

"Tell me about it?" Wu Wangwang listened attentively.

The most crucial clue regarding Daigo lies in what happened three years ago.

Three years ago, Da Gao's grandparents had an accident in the mountains. His grandmother died and his grandfather became lame. Logically speaking, such a family would definitely put all the burden on their grandson, Da Gao.

Strangely, the lame old man still treated his grandson like a child, continuing to go up the mountain and down the river to find ways to support him. He rarely allowed his grandson to go out to work, preferring him to stay at home all day. Only on market days, when everyone was out having fun, would he allow his grandson to go out for an hour or two.

This is also why Wu Wangwang hadn't seen Da Gao much before; he couldn't go out at all. The lame old man kept a very strict eye on him, as if he were being kept as some kind of important livestock.

Seeing that Wu Wangwang didn't understand his analogy, Da Gao explained that he was like a pig raised by a lame old man. He ate whatever his master ate, and sometimes the old man would even go without food to save it for him. But he couldn't go out, because if he did, he would be turned into crispy pork belly by someone else.

That's the feeling. Da Gao didn't understand why he had this feeling. The main thing was that he was a grown man, so how could he be turned into crispy pork belly just by going out?

Da Gao dismissed this with disdain and even tried every day to get information out of the old man, but the old man was quite tight-lipped and wouldn't say anything. When asked, he would just tell the old man to stay home and that the outside world was unsafe.

It wasn't until Sang Niang went to find him, and while the old man was out doing farm work, that she told him that Brother Bao was dead and asked him what to do.

At that time, there were three groups of people in front of the Ghost Mother Temple. Those who did not make a wish were led by Bao Ge, because Bao Ge's combat power was obviously the strongest. The other players who made wishes were led by Da Gao, and there was also a separate Wu Wangwang.

Sang Niang didn't know who to ask. After learning that Bao Ge had died, she first secretly went to Da Gao, but when she couldn't get a specific answer, she went to Wu Wangwang.

For Sang Niang now, among all the players, only Da Gao and Wu Wangwang are trustworthy. The two of them seem to be players who have participated in many dungeons, calm and confident.

Regardless of where Sang Niang's bias came from, Da Gao hadn't gone out much and couldn't give Sang Niang an answer. That night, he thought for a long time before finding a question that would get the old man to open his mouth—what happened to Grandma's affairs after the accident three years ago?

The old man didn't seem surprised that Da Gao asked such a question, but as a grandson, how could he not know about his grandmother's affairs after her death?

This reveals that Da Gao, the man in question, had no idea what had happened to his grandmother back then, and the old man didn't even intend to tell his grandson the truth for three years.

Last night, the old man's reaction convinced Da Gao of one thing: something must have happened three years ago that prevented the old man from holding a funeral for his wife, and even from keeping it a secret from his grandson. Similarly, this incident also led the old man to start controlling his grandson extremely, refusing to let him go out alone.

Da Gao had initially guessed what this matter was about, and based on the timeline, it was determined to have occurred three years ago. He figured he might need to ask some young adults or important figures in the village to find out.

But after exchanging information with Wu Wangwang, Da Gao immediately realized that there might have been a similar grand event three years ago, in which the whole village participated. Given the existence of this event, nothing unlucky could happen to the entire village.

Three years ago, there should have been a wedding like Zhenzhen and Dalin's today. They had the blessings of the whole village and were about to become a family, but they used death as their red carpet.

In other words, finding out the truth about the wedding three years ago will reveal how they should proceed, instead of having to wait until the wedding.

Wu Wangwang nodded slightly: "You're right. This wedding is indeed too strange. All funerals have to make way for it. Three years ago, a similar situation occurred where funerals had to make way for it. It's possible that there was another wedding back then. But who was the protagonist of that wedding?"

Da Gao sighed, "I don't know, so I secretly ran out to look for him. The old man definitely doesn't want to say more, so I can only come out and figure out a way myself. I was just about to go to Brother Bao's house to check the situation before asking others when I ran into you."

“Alright, I don’t have much time to move around. I have to get back before dark. Be careful, and don’t go looking for clues about the village chief alone. It would be best to bring the village chief’s nephew with you.” Wu Wangwang glanced at the sky, reminded Da Gao, and then said goodbye and left.

Wu Wangwang didn't know if Da Gao going out alone would be considered a violation of the rules. Judging from Da Gao's attitude, she felt that she couldn't persuade him and could only take it one step at a time. If Da Gao really faced the punishment of the rules after returning, she would try to find a way to let Da Gao bypass the rule that would lead to certain death.

After returning home, Wu Wangwang put down the shoebox. She vaguely realized that Da Gao's way of getting information was very reckless. He could easily break the rules. He dared to be so reckless because of the protection she had given him.

Putting everything else aside, Da Gao might really be lucky. He tried everywhere without any problems, while Shi Gu was beaten half to death after just one try.

This shows that even in games, luck plays a very important role.

When Wu Wangwang was sleeping at night, she always felt like she heard crying. She stared blankly in the dark for a long time before she realized that it was Sang Niang crying, and the crying at the grave had begun.

The next morning, before the widow left, she told Wu Wangwang not to go out for a while.

"Why?" Wu Wangwang asked, puzzled.

"Because the wedding is about to start, there are only seven days left. During this time, the bride cannot go out. If you need anything, just tell Mom, and Mom will bring it to you. It's only seven days, it will be over soon by the wedding." The widow's attitude remained unchanged, it was hard to tell whether she completely forbade it or announced a new rule.

Wu Wangwang didn't want to act too inhuman, so she could only obediently stay at home and space out.

Around noon, Sang Niang came over, her eyes red and swollen, clearly from crying for too long.

As soon as Sang Niang entered, her voice was so hoarse it was almost unbearable to hear: "Brother Bao has been buried, Wangwang, do you know? That's not a grave at all, it's...it's a mass grave..."

Wu Wangwang made her sit down, poured her some water, and wrung out a towel: "What do you mean by 'mass burial ground'? Are there many corpses?"

This time, Wu Wangwang still didn't give Sang Niang hot water, so Sang Niang took the towel, wiped her face, and continued, "I didn't see much. There were many haphazardly buried graves. Some places might have been dug up by wild dogs, exposing bones. But... why would someone be buried in a mass grave after they die?"

The mysteriously deceased Brother Bao was buried in a mass grave. His family seemed to have no intention of preparing a suitable grave for him, as if they would just bury him anywhere. The fact that they hired people to mourn him was only because they were worried that his ghost would be restless and resentful towards them.

"Da Gao also said that his grandmother's funeral was unclear, so people who had accidents during the wedding preparations might be buried in mass graves. But can't the family prepare a new funeral for the deceased afterward? Did Bao Ge's family say anything about it?" Wu Wangwang was concerned about this issue.

If the family was able to move the body from the mass grave later, it means there are other issues in the old man's family that haven't been clarified. But if once the body is buried in the mass grave, there's no way to have a proper burial, then the old man's attitude towards his grandson seems understandable.

After recalling for a while, Sang Niang shook her head and said, "I don't know. Not many people from Bao Ge's family came. It seems that only his father and uncle went. They just dug a hole and buried him. They didn't say whether they needed to prepare a coffin or anything like that later."

Their attitude almost confirmed Wu Wangwang's guess—those buried in the mass grave were essentially wiped out from the village.

It's a true disappearance, the absence of this person, the absence of proof of their existence, a genuine social death.

After a long silence, Wu Wangwang said, "This wedding seems to be the lifeblood of the entire village. All bad things must give way to the wedding. Once the wedding is successfully held, shouldn't these rules that violated the identity system also be put on the agenda?"

Sang Niang felt a chill run down her spine. This sentence was like when she was a child and made a mistake during the New Year. Her parents would say that they wouldn't hit her during the New Year, but after the New Year, they would deal with her.

In reality, parents might just threaten you and eventually beat you up to settle things. But in the game, if they haven't cleared the dungeon by the time the wedding is over, the only possible outcome seems to be death.

The timid Sang Niang panicked again. She threw away the towel and grabbed Wu Wangwang's hand: "Wu Wangwang, you have to think of something! I don't want to die, I really don't want to die. I might not have a second life. I really want to live. How about... how about we don't attend the wedding?"

It seems that as long as the wedding doesn't take place, players still have time to uncover the truth they need to know and gradually progress through the game.

Wu Wangwang raised her hand and pressed down on Sang Niang's head, trying to calm her down: "Don't scare yourself. This wedding is so important that even if a family member dies, the villagers still insist on holding it. On the other hand, isn't this wedding something that can bring them benefits beyond the loss of a life?"

To prevent Sang Niang from doing anything irrational, Wu Wangwang could only give her a slight hint: she now has the right to travel at night and is very free; she should use this privilege to find the truth instead of going crazy.

Sang Niang said, "I've thought about this possibility and tested my family. No one said anything else. So can I assume that this is something the villagers tacitly agree to, but they won't say it out loud, so we have no way of knowing?"

"You think that everyone in this village will keep their mouths shut, and even death won't make them talk, so you can't find the key information?" Wu Wangwang tried to understand what Sang Niang meant when she went mad.

"Yes, yes, that's exactly what I mean, Wu Wangwang, can you understand? They all seem to know things, but everyone acts like you should know, I should know, everyone should know. Because they know, no one will repeat themselves, and anyone who asks about it or talks about it will be suspected!" Sang Niang was on the verge of collapse.

A player impersonates an NPC in an attempt to survive. If the NPC becomes suspicious, the player will die, which is an alternative way to trigger the death rule.

Wu Wangwang looked at Sang Niang, whose eyes were red, and pondered for a long time before saying, "It's not like there's no way out. Da Lin still hasn't come back."

There are seven days left until the wedding. In other words, the players have been in this instance for eight days. During these eight days, every player is exhausted and may even suffer physical pain. Under such pressure, it is impossible for the players to remember every detail as clearly as they did at the beginning.

The difficulty of dungeons is largely due to the oppressive environment and rules. In a relaxed and joyful environment, many people can bring out their full potential and make the dungeons much easier.

Sang Niang was stunned for a moment before realizing that Da Lin was Wu Wangwang's fiancé and that he was going to attend the wedding. She had previously suspected that the person who would walk down the aisle with Wu Wangwang might not actually be Da Lin.

Da Gao's assessment of Sang Niang was correct; she calmed down immediately after obtaining the information she wanted, just like the day Bao Ge died—her speed of calming down was comparable to a rocket.

"Eight days have passed, and Dalin still hasn't returned?" Sangniang asked cautiously, afraid that Wu Wangwang's description was inaccurate or that she had misread the situation.

Wu Wangwang nodded: "Yes, whenever I have a chance to go out, I pretend to be passing by. Their family hasn't come back yet. Starting today, it seems I can't go out anymore. If there are any flaws in this wedding that aren't too dangerous, it's the Lin family and the Gao family."

Sang Niang didn't understand: "Why can't you go out suddenly? And what does this have to do with Da Gao?"

In response, Wu Wangwang said, "I don't know why I can't go out. The widow made me stay at home today, and I can't go out until the wedding. Maybe it's for good luck. As for Da Gao, right now, the one on the verge of collapse in the whole village is probably that lame old man, isn't he?"

The lame old man had never ventured deep into the village. He lived at the village entrance with his grandson, going out to work every day and not allowing his grandson to leave. He only allowed his grandson to stroll around the market. He himself would never stay in the village for long. As far as Wu Wangwang knew, he had indeed rarely entered the village.

In other words, he harbors resentment towards the village because of his wife's death three years ago.

Such a person may seem calm, but judging from his behavior in controlling his grandson, he is almost insane, though not completely so. He is just trying to be patient for his grandson's sake, to prevent his grandson from ending up like his wife.

Sang Niang gradually found the logic to solve the problem from Wu Wangwang's words. First of all, there is a very important event in this village, namely the wedding of Dalin and Wu Wangwang. For this wedding to be successful, Dalin and Wu Wangwang must be present.

Wu Wangwang is now locked up at home by the widow, as if to prevent the bride from running away. As for Dalin, he escaped the village's rules by his family under the pretext of "going to the provincial hospital because he was sick." Given the uncertainty of whether Dalin can return and whether he will actually be Dalin, it is much safer to target him from this angle than from other aspects.

To put it bluntly, for the sake of this wedding, Dalin must be present. When Dalin is not present, he and his family are enemies of the entire village.

Of course, the situation is still unclear, and it doesn't necessarily have to come to such a desperate point. A better option is the lame old man at the village entrance, who happens to have Da Gao as an inside man. Although it's a little more difficult for him to gather information, it won't be any more difficult than dealing with the other villagers.

Moreover, Wu Wangwang cannot leave the house for the next seven days, so the information she can obtain is limited. Sang Niang happens to have two days of free time, so why not cooperate with Da Gao? Da Gao won't die, and the two of them can discuss breaking some of the village's rules.

With only seven days left until the wedding, players don't have much time to complete the level, so even taking risks is worthwhile.

After sorting out the cause and effect, Sang Niang bid farewell to Wu Wangwang. She thanked Wu Wangwang for the reminder and said that in order to keep the news going and ensure her own safety, she would try to come and see Wu Wangwang once a day. If she didn't come one day, it probably meant that something had happened to her.

This serves as a safety lock, and it also reflects Sang Niang's belief that Wu Wangwang is kind-hearted. If one day she really can't appear, perhaps Wu Wangwang will find a way to save her.

Although Sang Niang didn't know whether she could wait for Wu Wangwang to rescue her if something really happened to her, after all, Brother Bao died quietly and suddenly became a corpse.

It was still early after Sang Niang left, and the widow hadn't returned yet, so naturally they wouldn't run into each other today.

But when the widow returned that evening, she said to Wu Wangwang, "Did the Mourning Mother come to see you today? Did she bring any red paper?"

Wu Wangwang was stunned for a moment. She didn't know how the widow had found out that Sang Niang had come, nor did she know whether the widow was simply asking or testing her. Was she testing whether Sang Niang was plotting something unspeakable with her, or whether Sang Niang had told her about the deaths during the wedding?

Moreover, Wu Wangwang couldn't be sure whether the widow had encountered Sangniang or her family on her way back, and it was uncertain how Sangniang and her family would explain their visit to the widow.

Instead of saying too much, Wu Wangwang chose to answer with the truth that she couldn't be wrong: "I came, but I didn't bring any red paper. I talked about the wedding for a bit and then left."

The widow's murky, unchanging eyes remained fixed on Wu Wangwang: "You talked about the wedding? What exactly did you talk about?"

"...We talked about the wedding process, and also, it seems like Brother Dalin hasn't come back yet." Wu Wangwang made a troubled expression.

Mentioning Dalin, the widow's expression softened slightly: "Oh, she's probably worried. Dalin hasn't come back yet, so she can't send out her red paper. Since she didn't send it to the groom's family, it's not convenient for her to send it to us, which is a bit of a hassle..."

The last half of the sentence seemed to be a soliloquy. Just as Wu Wangwang quietly breathed a sigh of relief, the widow suddenly turned her gaze to her again: "You're so worried about Dalin, you really like your brother Dalin, don't you?"

Wu Wangwang didn't know the meaning behind the widow's question. How would the original Zhenzhen have responded to such a question?

There are no hard and fast rules when faced with questions you don't know the answer to; sometimes a smile is enough. So Wu Wangwang lowered her head shyly, pretending to be embarrassed to answer.

The widow didn't ask any more questions, and she managed to get away with it for the day.

Nothing happened that night. Wu Wangwang still couldn't sleep, listening to faint sobs coming from afar, waiting for the rules of a new day.

With six days to go before the wedding, Wu Wangwang noticed that the widow locked the door when she left home, as if she was afraid that the widow would run away from home or that someone would come looking for her.

The widow left home without explanation, and as the wedding approached, she seemed to be getting busier and busier.

Wu Wangwang didn't ask the widow what would happen if someone came looking for her after she locked the door. Since the widow had locked the door, it meant she didn't want her to see anyone. Even if someone came looking for her, they could still talk through the door.

Sang Niang came over at noon. Today, Wu Wangwang saw her exhausted look through the crack in the door. She hadn't slept for two days and had been crying. If she weren't being chased by death, most people wouldn't have been able to withstand it.

Sang Niang pushed the door, but it wouldn't budge. She looked up in confusion to make sure she hadn't gone to the wrong place.

"Stop looking. The widow locked the door today, as if she doesn't want me to have any contact with others," Wu Wangwang whispered from behind the door.

"Huh? But I came to give you red paper, those cut-out 'double happiness' characters. How can I give them to you with the door closed?" Sang Niang couldn't understand the widow's behavior and felt that there must be some meaning behind it that they just hadn't realized.

Wu Wangwang sighed from behind the door: "I don't know either. Why don't you throw it in over the wall?"

The widow's house was completely enclosed, with only one entrance and exit at the main gate. The walls were also covered with large pieces of glass and iron, as if to prevent people from climbing over them.

Sang Niang clicked her tongue outside the door: "No way, this red paper is for your wedding, you can't just throw it on the ground. If I throw it there, it'll be me breaking the rules."

Neither way works. After thinking for a moment, Wu Wangwang said, "Perhaps, this is a plot that we have to complete ourselves. Let's sort it out first. First of all, when the widow came back yesterday, she asked me why I only chatted and didn't bring red paper when I came over yesterday. It just so happens that you brought it today. So what happened between you last night and this morning?"

Because the two had a information gap, they started by going through the clues from when Sang Niang went out yesterday.

Yesterday, after Sangniang went out, she didn't meet the widow. Instead, she went to find Da Gao and told him what Wu Wangwang had said. The two of them discussed what they should do next, hoping that Da Gao could get the key information from the lame old man.

Da Gao has been sneaking out for two or three days now. He sneaks out every day when the lame old man goes out and returns home before dark. However, Da Gao has not made any progress. As the saying goes, the villagers are as tight-lipped as if their mouths were glued shut with superglue. They won't mention a single word related to the incident.

By the time Sangniang finished looking for Da Gao, it was almost dark. She needed to go back for dinner and then continue mourning at the grave.

Sangniang cried until 4:30 in the morning, which is when the women in the village get up. She hadn't accomplished anything all night and her head was throbbing from crying. Just as she was about to go back to rest and take a nap, her grandmother informed her that the village chief had given her new orders.

The new order is for Sang Niang to deliver a red "double happiness" character to Wu Wangwang's house today.

"The red double happiness characters were actually cut before Brother Bao's accident. They were mostly cut by Grandma and Mom. They're too old to go to the funeral anymore, so my aunt and I went to mourn while they stayed home to prepare for the wedding. I only found out this morning that these red double happiness characters should have been sent to the groom's house by the elders first. Only after the groom's house received them could the younger generation send the rest to the bride." Sang Niang rolled her eyes as she spoke.

Hearing Sang Niang's sarcastic voice, Wu Wangwang asked in confusion, "Is there anything wrong with doing this?"

Sang Niang snorted coldly: "Hehe, of course it's not right. Since it's a wedding, both sets of elders should take care of it and send red double happiness characters to Da Lin's family. But I'm the one who has to send them to you. It's like saying that Da Lin, as the husband, will always be above you. Da Lin is the sky, and you are the lowest in status."

In a respectable family, such a situation would likely have resulted in the annulment of the engagement. The husband's family's actions clearly show disrespect for the wife's family.

It was clear that Sang Niang was very angry about this, so Wu Wangwang could only tell her, "Don't be angry. In fact, what they did actually proves that Da Lin has no news. The village chief may have to take some special measures."

Upon hearing this, Sang Niang composed herself, leaned closer to the door, and lowered her voice to say, "You know what, I asked my aunt about it, and Da Lin actually fell quite badly. Moreover, the village chief has been trying to contact Da Lin's family recently but hasn't been able to reach them. They don't answer the phone or reply to messages. If there's still no news by tomorrow, we're going to arrange for someone to go to the provincial capital to check on them."

"Tomorrow? That means there are only five days left? Five days is enough time for the village chief to resolve Dalin's matter?" Wu Wangwang felt that it was a bit uncertain.

Firstly, Da Lin's family has disappeared without a trace, and they may not even be in the provincial hospital. Secondly, Da Lin's injuries must be very serious, so serious that even the women in Sang Niang's family have heard about it. Perhaps most of the villagers know that Da Lin cannot stand up before the wedding and has a plan in mind.

Sang Niang wasn't sure if the village chief could handle things well, so she could only say, "It depends on what the situation is with Da Lin's family. Personally, I think that since the wedding is so important, if they can't find Da Lin, they should provide an alternative, or they just need Da Lin's presence and don't care if he's the one they initially chose."

Just as Sang Niang guessed at the beginning, Da Lin's face was ruined, so anyone could be Da Lin.

After all, nobody really cares who the main characters of this wedding are or what their circumstances are; the village just needs a wedding like this.

Wu Wangwang stood behind the door, her eyes darting around: "If that's the case, the village will definitely take action. Either they'll find the real Dalin, or they'll find a second Dalin. Both of these could leak a lot of information, so we can't let this opportunity pass."

Sang Niang thought so too. These were the only two channels to obtain crucial information before the wedding, so even taking a slight risk was worthwhile.

After discussing it, Sang Niang asked Wu Wangwang to find bamboo poles and baskets at home to see if they could deliver the red "double happiness" character to the yard.

This method is feasible. Wu Wangwang is strong and can carry a basket of red paper into the yard using a bamboo pole.

After delivering the red paper, Sang Niang had to leave. She had many things to do and couldn't just linger at Wu Wangwang's place.

When the widow returned home that evening, she saw the red paper in the house and simply asked Sang Niang how she brought it in and if it was damaged. After hearing Wu Wangwang say that she carried it in with a bamboo pole, she didn't say much more. Wu Wangwang felt that if the red paper had really been thrown in, Sang Niang would probably be in trouble.

That night, Sang Niang continued to mourn, but it was clear that she and her aunt were no longer able to cry. Their cries were intermittent and much softer, almost inaudible.

The wedding was approaching, and before leaving home, the widow said that she would stay home for two more days to prepare the wedding feast. It seemed that the village custom was to start preparing three days before the wedding: the first day was for preparing all the necessary items, the second day was for the wedding feast, and the last day was for the wedding ceremony.

In other words, the wedding doesn't actually start from the fifteenth day of the game, but rather the thirteenth day.

Wu Wangwang didn't expect the wedding date to be calculated in advance, which means the players only have two days left. Either Sangniang will find the answer in the search for Dalin, or Dagao will get the answer from the lame old man.

Five days was already tight enough, and now there are two days less. Even Wu Wangwang couldn't help but feel a little nervous, feeling that it was a bit uncertain whether the players could clear the game on time.

Wu Wangwang had been waiting for news from Sang Niang all day, but she arrived very late, in the afternoon, an hour before the widow's usual time to go home.

When Sang Niang arrived, she still couldn't get in. After confirming that Wu Wangwang was behind the door, she said directly, "Time is tight, so I'll get straight to the point. The village chief and the others sent people to the provincial capital to look for Da Lin today, but they couldn't find him. The people who went didn't know the specifics, but they just couldn't find him. If nothing unexpected happens, we'll be choosing your second husband tomorrow."

Wu Wangwang wasn't surprised by the result, but simply asked, "So, what are you and Da Gao going to do next?"

“The wedding is almost ready. Not only Da Gao, but we’ve all gathered together. Now, apart from Bao Ge who went to test the village chief, no one has had any accidents. So Da Gao asked me to ask you, if it were you, what would you do?” Sang Niang asked quickly, as if something was chasing after her.

The issue has now shifted back to Wu Wangwang. She is now one of the main characters in the wedding, and she seems to be very important during the ceremony. Other players need Wu Wangwang's cooperation and cannot make decisions on their own.

What if other players make their own decisions and they end up violating the rules because they don't match Wu Wangwang's decision?

So Da Gao, Sang Niang, and the other players discussed it and decided to ask Wu Wangwang for advice. Perhaps only by working together could they have a chance to clear the level.

Wu Wangwang thought about the nature of the game and sighed: "It seems I don't have much of a choice. The widow is keeping a close eye on me, and I don't dare to run away on my own for fear of triggering the death rule. Besides, I just found out this morning that the wedding will last for three days, not just the last day. So, after you find 'Dalin' tomorrow and the day after, the wedding will be right around the corner."

After hearing Wu Wangwang's words, Sangniang finally understood why the village chief was in such a hurry. At the same time, she felt anxious about the wedding being moved up by two days: "What? The wedding is supposed to last three days? Why didn't anyone mention that!"

Despite their surprise, many of the players realized that this was just how the village was; they wouldn't say a word about things that were already agreed upon, as if speaking out would bring disaster. Since everyone had agreed that the wedding would last three days, naturally no one would reveal it to the players.

The only way to get this information is through the bride and groom's families. Now that the groom has run away, only Wu Wangwang knows.

If it weren't for Sang Niang reporting every day that she was still alive, it would have been very difficult for Wu Wangwang to send out the news on her own.

Sang Niang started biting her nails anxiously: "What should we do? What should we do? What should we do? There are only two days left! Wu Wangwang, what should we do? We only have two days left!"

Wu Wangwang had now figured out Sang Niang's personality and habits, and knew that she was in a state of panic due to lack of information again, so she said, "Sang Niang, tomorrow you should find a way to get the village chief's nephew and Da Gao selected to go to the provincial hospital. They will come back alive and bring back information that can only be found after leaving the village."

The village rules are for the village; once you leave the village, no one needs to follow them, just like the Lin family who have already escaped—even though it's not entirely certain that they've run away, judging from the village chief's decision, it's pretty much true.

Sang Niang frantically grabbed a handful of her hair: "No way! According to the game rules, players can't leave the dungeon map. Even with the blessing of the Ghost Mother, they still can't be chosen by the village chief!"

This was the first time Wu Wangwang had heard of such a rule. No wonder she had never seen any players leaving the village to find a way out. She thought for a moment and changed her approach: "Then you can only make sure that those who leave don't come back."

"What do you mean?" Sang Niang didn't understand.

“It’s very simple. Before the wedding, nothing major is allowed to happen in the village. In other words, if a villager leaves the village tomorrow to look for someone and disappears, the whole village will pretend they didn’t see it. Do you understand what I mean?” Wu Wangwang coaxed patiently.

Sang Niang regained a little of her senses: "You want us to kidnap them?"

Wu Wangwang clicked her tongue lightly: "Hey! Don't make it sound so serious. What does this have to do with you? It's a player's business, not kidnapping. Besides, many people have never come back. The villagers should be used to it by now."

A note from the author:

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[End of this chapter]

Wu Wangwang: So many people have disappeared, what's wrong with one or two more? The village chief will definitely forgive you! O(∩_∩)O

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It's finished! I added 7,000 words at the end, but I was too lazy to separate the chapters, so I put them all together. Mwah! ^3^

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